German dialect in Texas is one of a kind, and dying out

German dialect in Texas is one of a kind, and dying out

The Timeless Rav Hirsch Series at Torah.org

Parshas Bereishis - The First Stirrings of Capitalism

Parshas Noach - The Origins of Totalitarianism

Parshas Lech Lecha - No Justice, No Peace

Parshas Vayera
- Avraham and Yitzchok Walk "Together"
- Special Enough To Care

Parshas Chayei Sarah - The Man Who Has Everything
- Going Home

Parshas Toldos - One Size Does Not Fit All
- The Three-fold Pattern of Jewish History

Parshas Vayeitzei - What Did Yaakov Ask For?
- Romantics Need Not Apply

Parshas Vayishlach - Doing Without Power
- No Milquetoasts, These

Parshas Vayeishev - An Almost Perfect Family
- Location, Location

Parshas Miketz - His Cup Runneth on Empty
- Unfinished Business

Parshas Vayigash - The Shared Happiness of Ordinary Existence>
- Life Imitates History

Parshas Vayechi - Managing Jewish Pride
- Pick An Angel

Parshas Shemos - The Source of All Freedom
- The Origins of State Anti-Semitism

Parshas Vaera - Who Speaks For G-d?
- Worse is Better

Parshas Bo - Everything New Under the Moon
- The Moral High Road is a Two Lane Street

Parshas Beshalach - Don�t Be Skeptical About Skepticism
- Why Amalek Hates Us

Parshas Yisro - Epilogue to the Decalogue
- Meet You At Sinai – From a Distance

Parshas Mishpatim - The Punishment For Theft
- Cheeseburgers for Dummies

Parshas Terumah - The Shulchan and Torah Economics
- The Two Keruvim

Parshas Tetzaveh - Inauguration is Not a Ball
- The Two That Couldn’t Wait

Parshas Ki Sisa - On Golden Calves and Other Heroes
- The Limits of Grasping G-d

Parshas Vayakhel- The Exceptional Melachah
- Getting Directed

Parshas Pekudei- Why Seven?

Parshas Vayikra - To Thine Own Torah Self Be True
- Elevation in Affliction

Parshas Tzav - Pigul: Defining the Essence of Korbanos
- Memory and Innovation

Parshas Shemini - A Tumah Primer
- Torah Calories

Parshas Tazria - A Message in White

Parshas Metzorah - Membership Has Its Price - The High Price of Oil

Parshas Acharei Mos - Inventing Ritual
- What Goes Up Must Come Down

Parshas Kedoshim - Color Me Needed

Parshas Emor - Have An Esrog Day! 
- Divine Service With a Smile

Parshas Behar - To Be Or Not To Be

Parshas Bechukosai - Making the Numbers Count 
- How to Emerge From Galus

Parshas Bamidbar - In Praise of Child Labor 
- E Pluribus Pluribus

Parshas Naso - On Justice, Human and Divine 
- The Beis Ha-Mikdosh in a Sound Bite

Parshas Behaaloscha - Prayers Without Words 
- The Little Committee That Could

Parshas Shlach - Presenting G-d With Plan B
- Paradise Lost, Twice

Parshas Korach - Creative Religious Response: Korach Would Be Happy
- Out of Bounds

Parshas Chukas - Parah Adumah Demystified
- Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth, A Thankless Nation

Parshas Balak - In Praise of Family Values
- Not Playing By the Rules

Parshas Pinchas - Who’s Tamid?
- A Month To Remember

Parshas Matos - Mikvah, Explained

Parshios Matos-Masei - Raining on the Parade That Wasn't

Parshas Masei - Tolerance and Its Limits

Parshas Devarim - No Need For Senate Hearings
- What Does Mishnah Torah Repeat?

Parshas Vaeschanan - The Meaning of “One”
- Getting G-d Right

Parshas Eikev - Manna, Updated

Parshas Reeh - Of Men and Mice
- The Pitfalls of Private Spirituality

Parshas Shoftim - Altars Are Not Green
- Banishing Statism

Parshas Ki Seitzei - Xtreme Law
- Keeping It Out of the Family

Parshas Ki Savo - Prologue to an Epilogue
- Undeservedly Deserving

Parshios Netzavim & Vayeilech - The Really Long Way Home
- Rebirth of a Nation

Parshas Haazinu- Location is Not Everything
- Demons and Ghosts

Linked Article - Jewish Press: The Life Of Rav Shimon Schwab

The Life Of Rav Shimon Schwab

By: Dr. Yitzchok Levine

Last month we traced the early life of Rav Shimon Schwab – his intense focus on Talmud Torah, his studies in the Lithuanian yeshivas of Telshe and Mir, and his first rabbinical positions in Germany. Under increasing threat from the Nazis, Rav Schwab was desperate to leave Germany and find a new rabbinical position.

The following is from an article titled “Memories of Shearith Israel,” written in December 2000 by Rabbi Moshe Schwab, Rav Schwab’s eldest son. I have edited and modified it somewhat, and he has kindly given me permission to share it here.

Leaving Germany

During 1936, with Nazi anti-Semitism growing daily in Germany, my father – who was then the betzirksrabbiner, or district rabbi, of Ichenhausen in Bavaria, Germany – was especially targeted by the local Hitler Youth thugs for persecution, and he knew he must leave Germany as soon as possible at the peril of his life.

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Are Germans Cold?

"Gemütlichkeit  describes a space or state of warmth, friendliness, and good cheer. Other qualities include coziness, peace of mind, belonging, well being, and social acceptance." Wiki

Despite myths to the contrary, this a quality that is prized amongst Germans and quite common. No, Germans don't gush or hop up and down, but they can be quite friendly. I remember the first time I met Rav Schwab. He was seated next to me at a Shabbos table. He turned to me and gave me such a warm and dignified greeting. I never forgot it. I felt, well, respected, by this elderly, distinguished man.

At all the German kehillas that I have ever visited, whether it be in Washington Heights, Monsey, Jerusalem, Modiin Illit, Beitar Illit, or Bene Brak, I have experienced this Gemütlichkeit. It is real and its really nice. The first time I ever visited WH I was greeted as I walked up the steps, then again as I entered the building.

At the first event I attended at WH, I was kind of nervous where I might sit and with whom. So the event organizer, sent her son to sit next to me and he gave me this wonderful overview of the community for about two yours.

I went once to a vort in Monsey, German vort where I didn't know a soul. Didn't matter. We were chatting with people in no time. One elderly man who had been raised in Franfkurt was a particular delight. I have seen him in the shul afterward many times and he has always been so cordial to me. I told him I heard he studies Hirsch in German and asked him to translate a sentence. He invited me to his apartment where we studied a whole page together in the German. It was such a thrill.

I have been in many non-German shuls where I felt so alone, so unseen, same with weddings, vorts. I have to say that I have never experienced this at a German shul or event. There's no such thing as sitting at a table with a person and not talking to him.

One of the many myths of Germany Orthodoxy shattered, in my experience.

Knowledge of the Law alone is not enough

"Knowledge of the Law alone is not enough to gain Paradise in  world to come; if that Paradise is to be won and the earth is also to be transformed into a Paradise, this Law must be not only known but also observed. And there remains a very wide gap between the knowl edge of the Law in theory and its observance in practice." (Collected Writings, Vol. II, p. 398)